To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: 'it seems to make every top ten ever written' Photograph: Allstar

People call me a political writer, but I try not to let it bother me. The truth is I'm probably more interested in ideas than I am in something that can be as narrowly defined as politics, and I've always been drawn to authors who use humour to poke fun at the status quo.

Looking over my top ten political books for teenagers, I find the list pretty illuminating. People seldom stop to think over their influences, and list them from one to ten and I would advise you to give it a go. Generally, of course, I prefer to keep the little squeaky wheel that drives my creative processes locked away in the dark. Treat it mean and keep it keen is my motto. However, when I look at this list, I see a pattern of lifelong interest in telling the truth and being funny about it – and it makes me realise how much of a debt I owe these great writers.

So here, in no particular order, is my list of political books that may or may not be political but that are definitely bursting with righteous indignation and great ideas. Enjoy.

'Only six people in the Galaxy knew that the job of the Galactic President was not to wield power but to attract attention away from it. Zaphod Beeblebrox was amazingly good at his job.'

Douglas Adam's series is littered with observations like this. A very seditious book indeed, all the more dangerous for the author's cunning skill in masking his intentions with humour and an incredible cast of wild and wonderful characters.

After working on research for this book for 16 years, author Will Cuppy upped and died just before publication, which was a very Will Cuppy thing to do. One of America's great humorists, he exquisitely skewers every single important political figure he can get his hands on. Example: 'All modern men are descended from wormlike creatures, but it shows more on some people.' Genius.

The next four choices are more serious in case you thought I was being too lightweight, too Lib Dem...

Isaac Asimov was inspired by Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – and by contemporary global politics – to create his own political epic. The result was The Foundation Trilogy, a stunning science fiction work that raises profound questions, such as why do empires rise and fall? How is society best run? My sister gave the series to me one Christmas and I can clearly remember having the best holidays ever as I devoured Asimov's words.

A really brave book that came out in the height of the Twilight and general vampire fantasy mania, which makes its brutal portrayal of how a real boy in a real prison of war camp is broken down by real soldiers all the more stark. I love it for the passion of Perera's writing. A wonderful way to bring the 'War on Terror' home to the younger generation.

Leaving the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white high school, Junior struggles to escape his destiny back on the reservation. This novel is a lovely example of how to write a political book without looking like you're trying too hard. Alexei's style is never didactic, nor harsh, relying instead on strong and believable characters that change your worldview as they transform theirs.

I've got to put this one in, although it seems to make every top ten ever written. An exploration of racial tensions in the deep South through the eyes of 6-year-old Scout Finch. As her lawyer father, Atticus, defends a black man accused of rape, Scout and her friends learn about the unjust treatment of African-Americans — and their mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley.

If this book doesn't make you sizzle, I don't know what will. I'm still sizzling now and it's a Sunday afternoon thirty years after I first read it.

The book begins with this note: Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.By order of the Author

Nice try, Mr. Clemens. The story is, of course, a passionate defense of human rights, but it's brilliance, like Part Time Indian, is that it doesn't preach. No one is ever, ever allowed to rear up on their hind legs to deliver a heartbreaking monologue about the evils of slavery or racism. Twain simply can't spare the space, he's too busy trying to cram as much fun as he can into every paragraph.

1066 is a little dated now, but it's still very funny. Really exposes how dull and pointless adults manage to make the teaching of history and politics to the younger generation. No wonder people say kids aren't interested.

And for my final choice, a little George Orwell, but maybe not the one you were expecting…

'You have talked so often of going to the dogs - and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them.'

Forget Animal Farm, which I honestly think no adult ever enjoyed as a child (I'm never getting over Boxer). George Orwell's vivid memoir of his time living among the desperately poor and destitute, Down and Out is a really moving and often darkly comic tour of the underworld of society – and I feel is the most warm, the most human of Orwell's books.

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